Broken Tee: Craft Beer Excursion to the Burbs
Plus, this weekend's indoor farmers markets
January’s Parting Shot
I woke to this lovely moment this morning. I’ve been griping plenty about the unrelenting grayness during this year’s first month, so I thought maybe this was a little grace note before we turn the calendar page.
Then I turned on the weather forecast to hear that the temperature is in the single digits in Chicago, below zero is some outlying locations.
And in my imagination I hear January whisper into my ear, “Psych!”
Yep, lots of winter left, but sure looking forward to turning that calendar page.
For This Brewery Trip, I Left the Driving to Metra
My second interview for my upcoming Natural Awakenings Chicago craft beer story was at Broken Tee Brewing, which opened a few months ago in north suburban Highwood. It’s about 28 miles north of downtown Chicago, there was snow (much more up there than here), and I was obviously going to be sampling beer.
Oh, and the brewery is directly across the street from the Highwood Metra commuter station, which made it an easy call to hop on a train and enjoy the snowy scenery.
Broken Tee is the passion project of Paul Bumbaco, a former longtime golf pro at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe. Paul started his beer adventure as an avid home brewer, ultimately building a set-up that occupied most of his home basement and included a bottling machine.
That’s Paul on the right with some hippie-looking beer geek who wandered in.
After some time exploring the idea of going pro in craft beer — which included a stint as taproom manager at Highland Park’s Ravinia Brewing Co. — he settled on the unpretentious building at 406 Green Bay Rd. that had been vacant for years but had once been the site of Pierantoni’s, a beloved family-owned Italian restaurant.
Broken Tee produces a range of beer styles, from an Italian pilsner (dubbed Beerantonis after the building’s former owners) to IPAs to German styles to sours. I sampled the Dew Sweeper coffee lager (spiked with cold brew from Tala Coffee Roasters next door), the Shankopotomus kettle sour (mmmm, lime and ginger flavors), and the Nacht Putten schwarzbier, and I enjoyed them all.
There’s also a great story about how I helped Paul find a local farmer to recycle his spent grain as livestock feed. But you’ll have to wait for the Natural Awakenings article for that.
